Announcement

Collapse

Civics 101 Guidelines

Want to argue about politics? Healthcare reform? Taxes? Governments? You've come to the right place!

Try to keep it civil though. The rules still apply here.
See more
See less

FBI spent $900K to break into phone.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • FBI spent $900K to break into phone.

    Senator confirms FBI paid $900,000 to unlock San Bernardino iPhone
    Dianne Feinstein revealed the figure while questioning FBI director James Comey last week.

    In early 2016, Apple was embroiled in a battle with the FBI over privacy, specifically whether it could (or would) crack an iPhone 5C following the San Bernardino terrorist attack. Apple refused to specifically create a backdoor piece of software that would circumvent the security protections built into iOS, citing concerns for the privacy of the other millions of people out there using iPhones and iPads. Ultimately, it became a moot point: the FBI purchased software to crack the iPhone in question. The agency refused to say how much it spent, but now Senator Dianne Feinstein has revealed that it cost $900,000 to break into the shooter's phone.

    Senator Feinstein noted the $900,000 figure this past Wednesday while questioning Comey at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing. "I was so struck when San Bernardino happened and you made overtures to allow that device to be opened, and then the FBI had to spend $900,000 to hack it open," Feinstein said (as reported by the AP). She would know -- she's the top the Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees the FBI.

    Until this statement, the FBI has refused to disclose either how much it spent to break into the San Bernardino iPhone; it also has protected the identity of the individual or company that broke into the phone. The agency has said both of those pieces of information are classified.



    ==
    That a lot of moolah to hack an iphone.

    But hidden in the story is that Senator Feinstein revealed classified information in a public forum. You can bet that won't be highlighted in the liberal news.

    This isn't the first time Feinstein has slipped up and revealed classified information either. in 2013 she revealed that the NSA was tapping internet backbones to get at emails. In 2009 she revealed that CIA drones were being flown out of a base in Pakistan.
    Last edited by Sparko; 05-08-2017, 01:58 PM.


  • #2
    Sounds like some little tech shop somewhere overcharged for their services simply because they could.
    Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
    But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
    Than a fool in the eyes of God


    From "Fools Gold" by Petra

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
      Sounds like some little tech shop somewhere overcharged for their services simply because they could.
      They should have just called the NSA who probably had the phone tapped and recorded the whole time anyway.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
        They should have just called the NSA who probably had the phone tapped and recorded the whole time anyway.
        Yeah! Rogue06 could've solved the problem with some bacon! Oh... wrong NSA. Nevermind!
        If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

        Comment


        • #5
          Was it $900,000 to break into just one particular phone or $900,000 to break into one phone and in doing so gain the ability to break into all such phones?

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Terraceth View Post
            Was it $900,000 to break into just one particular phone or $900,000 to break into one phone and in doing so gain the ability to break into all such phones?
            Good question.

            Although I think hiring a five year old* and watching him do it might have been cheaper.





















































            *Ask any mother - five year olds can get into ANYTHING
            "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

            "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

            My Personal Blog

            My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

            Quill Sword

            Comment


            • #7
              it was an iphone. It has a 4 digit code. There are only 10,000 combinations. They probably paid $900K to hire some teenager to try all combinations till they hit the right one. Heck, I would do it for $900K

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                it was an iphone. It has a 4 digit code. There are only 10,000 combinations. They probably paid $900K to hire some teenager to try all combinations till they hit the right one. Heck, I would do it for $900K
                Can't, if the wrong combination was typed in too many times the phone would lock up, and they'd lose any chance of the getting access. They originally made a ridiculous proposal for Apple to engineer a version of the iOs which allowed and unlimited number of tries, and then to force update that particular phone over the air.

                Apple wisely refused that. Which started a court case about whether the FBI by right could demand of them to make such a thing.

                The court case never completed, as they bought a tech exploit from what I was told were Israeli hackers.

                They should have just called the NSA who probably had the phone tapped and recorded the whole time anyway.
                It's possible that the NSA could have cracked that particular iPhone, if they had a similar exploit in the library of exploits that they maintain. We do know from one of the awesome WikiLeaks that they do have their limitations, and tend to rely heavily on getting malware onto the devices through ordinary means.

                Thanks to Wikileaks we know that they can't break ordinary web encryption by any direct means. And they can't sniff packets through the ONION router system of TOR where they're forced to try to spam it with activity to downgrade the service, though in some cases they've had limited success with tracking ip-packet times.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Leonhard View Post
                  Can't, if the wrong combination was typed in too many times the phone would lock up, and they'd lose any chance of the getting access. They originally made a ridiculous proposal for Apple to engineer a version of the iOs which allowed and unlimited number of tries, and then to force update that particular phone over the air.

                  Apple wisely refused that. Which started a court case about whether the FBI by right could demand of them to make such a thing.

                  The court case never completed, as they bought a tech exploit from what I was told were Israeli hackers.



                  It's possible that the NSA could have cracked that particular iPhone, if they had a similar exploit in the library of exploits that they maintain. We do know from one of the awesome WikiLeaks that they do have their limitations, and tend to rely heavily on getting malware onto the devices through ordinary means.

                  Thanks to Wikileaks we know that they can't break ordinary web encryption by any direct means. And they can't sniff packets through the ONION router system of TOR where they're forced to try to spam it with activity to downgrade the service, though in some cases they've had limited success with tracking ip-packet times.
                  I was referring to the fact that the NSA has been tapping and recording phone calls and emails from US citizens. The whole Snowden thing.

                  Comment

                  Related Threads

                  Collapse

                  Topics Statistics Last Post
                  Started by little_monkey, 03-27-2024, 04:19 PM
                  16 responses
                  155 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post One Bad Pig  
                  Started by whag, 03-26-2024, 04:38 PM
                  53 responses
                  400 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post Mountain Man  
                  Started by rogue06, 03-26-2024, 11:45 AM
                  25 responses
                  114 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post rogue06
                  by rogue06
                   
                  Started by Hypatia_Alexandria, 03-26-2024, 09:21 AM
                  33 responses
                  198 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post Roy
                  by Roy
                   
                  Started by Hypatia_Alexandria, 03-26-2024, 08:34 AM
                  84 responses
                  373 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post JimL
                  by JimL
                   
                  Working...
                  X